Invited to speak at a Q&A with Bill and Melinda Gates for their charity foundation, the former president decided to address his words to the world’s future leaders and innovators.

Taking to the stage, Obama called upon his own hard-earned wisdom in a bid to inspire everyone listening in. And, naturally, everyone’s favourite POTUS made a point of underlining the three big pieces of leadership advice he’s given his teenage daughters over the years.

1) “Being responsible is an enormous privilege”

Obama says that he and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, have tried to impress upon their daughters the importance of being kind, considerate, empathetic and hardworking.

“These are the tools by which you can shape the world around you in a way that feels good,” Obama said, according to People.

2) “There are a lot of different ways to make a difference”

Obama said he understands that Sasha and Malia “will choose to participate in different ways because they’ve got different temperaments, different strengths.”

“You don’t have to go out and lead the protest march,” he said, “and if you are a brilliant engineer, you don’t have to make a speech. You can create an app that allows an amplification or the scaling up of something that is really powerful if you’re someone who likes to care for people.”

3) “Change doesn’t happen overnight”

We can get tired and overwhelmed when our work doesn't bring results, but Obama assured us – and his daughters – that change takes time.

“You have to be persistent,” he said. “We get disappointed and we get frustrated, [which is why] I always tell people that my early work as a community organizer in Chicago taught me an incredible amount, but I didn't set the world on fire.”

Obama isn’t the only member of the former First Family to dish out his own tried-and-tested life advice to the masses. In fact, Michelle recently issued her own rousing cry for women everywhere to come together and set up their own BFF bootcamps.

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Kayleigh Dray

Kayleigh Dray is editor of Stylist.co.uk, where she chases after rogue apostrophes and specialises in films, comic books, feminism and television. On a weekend, you can usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea and playing boardgames with her friends.